|
|
 |
Fourplay.
If you were at the Big Day Out you very likely heard the Beastie
Boys punch out Sabotage on their main stage performance,
if you're at the Festival Centre next week you're likely to
hear the same song - albeit in a different format - powered
out by Fourplay, a four piece string quartet, who boast an unusual
two violas in their lineup and who get their jollies through
an amazingly wide variation of music. Onstage, they'll work
their way through Radiohead, Charles Mingus, Metallica, and
more than a few original numbers. And then there's the Beastie
Boys!
"Rap - we do do a rap and amazingly we seem to win people over," laughs Lara Goodridge, who joined the ensemble back in their very early days, in 1995. "Maybe its because we mix it up enough that people can get our sense of humour and adventure, but we love the Beastie Boys.
"When we're onstage - and we'll be doing this in Adelaide - we'll incorporate most of our repertoire, and we've probably got about five or six new original songs we've been working on since we were last there."
It is a difficult tight rope to walk for a performance group such as Fourplay. How to enthuse an audience with their passion for music and adventure, and original material, when (arguably) a fair number are there purely to hear the quartet's rendition of Metallica's Enter Sandman. "Over the years we've been very encouraged by the audience support of our originals, and we play up to about 50%; but I think it all blends really nicely."
Down here, of course, I'd gained the impression that Fourplay were not performing very much... not to put too fine a point on it, they seemed almost inactive. Whilst I'm not entirely correct ("We've got three shows this weekend," says Goodridge sharply), it is true that time has been spent in recruiting a new member to the fold, and their recorded output has not been exactly... voluminous.
"We're kinda rehearsing really hard, we've had time off, you're exactly right, but we've had a member change, and so we'll be back into in April.
The new guy in the foursome is Shenzo Grigorio, a violinist based in Brisbane, who joined up last year and has already played a few shows with them. "He trained as a violinist, and he learned the viola for us, and that's something that is extremely good for us. It challenges us musically because he doesn't play as a trained violist might. There's something a little different in the mix." Grigorio should bring something a little different to the mix; as I find out he's toured extensively as Shenzo's Electric Stunt Orchestra who have been to Adelaide as part of a Fringe Festival. Adds Goodridge, "he's very into jazz and gypsey music as well, so that adds to the mixture also."
Indeed, they do bill themselves as the 'eclectic electric string quartet' and that's nothing more than the truth. Four individual musical tastes in a quartet which grew out of friendships forged as part of the Australian Youth Orchestra, and a conversion to electrified instruments a little later makes for quite a melting pot. For Goodridge, it's easily explicable, even when it comes to the vexing question of which contemporary music to interpret and cover. "We come up with lists of songs we'd like to try, and we all have different tastes, so we debate the merits. Not everyone agrees, but we can be convinced."
For fans of the style - and if you were listening to Triple J a few years ago it was impossible to miss Fourplay's contributions - there is some good news. Not just their live performances, but a long overdue new album. It seems like ages... and it is, but as Goodridge points out, the time gap is lessened by a remix album which was released just over two years ago. In truth, the last full album from them was nearly four years ago, and a new release can be expected later this year. Goodridge sounds not one whit concerned. "I guess it's just working nicely," she avers.
Alex Wheaton
 |
Fourplay perform as part of Adelaide's Big Backyard at the Festival Centre.
|
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
